1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to image drawing apparatus and, more particularly, is directed to an image drawing apparatus suitable for use in a so-called video titler for superimposing desired characters, figures and the like, for example, on an image generated by a video
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is known a so-called video titler for superimposing desired characters, figures or the like on an image reproduced from a video signal or the like outputted from a VTR (video tape recorder). Such a video titler allows an effective video edit by, for example, inserting characters of "Entrance Ceremony" on a scene of an entrance ceremony, displaying a balloon in the vicinity of a person and writing desired words in the balloon, and so on.
A conventional video titler is provided with a tracking ball having two rotating freedoms and capable of designating a series of two-dimensional coordinates and a keyboard. By the use of the tracking ball and keyboard, the shape and position of a figure to be superimposed on an image reproduced from a video signal are selected. In this event, the figure can be painted in a desired color selected by the operator from a plurality of predetermined colors.
However, even though the operator can select a color for painting a figure when drawing the figure by means of a conventional video titler, the painted condition is fixed, and therefore the color of the figure cannot be automatically changed after drawing the figure. Further, although a colorful figure can be drawn by combining a variety of colors during drawing, the drawn figure is a still image while an image reproduced from a video signal is a moving image, which causes an inconvenience that a moving figure cannot be drawn.
In this respect, it is possible to draw a moving figure by using an apparatus which is capable of drawing and storing color moving images. However, such an apparatus is large in size and expensive. Further, the operator must designate complicated parameters, which presents an inconvenience that the user cannot use the above apparatus readily as a video titler.